Screwy Statistics
 

There are some screwy statistics out there on official websites, etc.

Here's one from the FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEAD--
Laver, Rodney
Height
5'8" (173 cm)

Rosewall, Ken
Height
5'9" (175 cm)

I believe that everyone knows that Laver was taller than Rosewall. And I think that everyone believes that Muscles was 5' 7" and Laver was 5' 9" or 5' 10". But to suggest that Laver was 5' 8" and that Muscles was taller is just goofy.

Laver might be 5' 8" today in 2012 at age 74, and may suffer from height reduction as a result of osteoporosis. (Of course maybe it's just a human typographical error.)

Hoad
 

You think that is bad? I have seen in many places Lew Hoad listed at 5ft 8" tall. But his widow says he was 5ft 11.5". Photographic evidence shows she was correct, when you see Hoad alongside Gonzales, Rosewall, Sedgman etc ie he only looks about the same height as Sedgman who is 5ft 11"

I went with Laver at 5'8" because wiki had him at this height. Also, if player exaggerate their height, they would say they are taller than their actually height. Rosewall is definitely shorter than 5'8", see below.

Rosewall vs Hoad
 

Compare Hoad - 2nd from left with Rosewall - 3rd from right



I would say - 5ft 7" for Rosewall and 5ft 11.5" for Hoad is about right.

Who knows how the ATP gets their height data. Theoretically you would want to have Laver's height listed as it actually was in his playing days. But the ATP doesn't necessarily use sources from that time period. What are they going to do, go through newspaper archives? And not all sources agree, so what will they do when they find conflicting information? What source do they go with?

Maybe all they do is get the information as directly as they can, getting the most recent information directly from the player or from people connected to him.